344 Pickling the Olive. 
after which it should be drawn off carefully into the second, and 
so on until it is sufficiently bright. Three rackings are usually 
sufficient. 
Olives are sometimes ground and pressed in portable cider 
mills or ground in barley crushers for oil manufacture on a 
small scale. As the above description shows, oil making is a 
simple process, and may be carried on at home with rude 
devices. It is, however, a process requiring care and cleanli- 
ness, and intelligent personal attention. 
PICKLING THE OLIVE. 
Olives are pickled in a green state, as is the case with the 
imported olives; or in a ripe state, as largely undertaken in Cali- 
fornia. No one had any conception ten years ago of the diffi- 
culties attending the production of pickled ripe olives which 
would have the keeping quality demanded in an article of com- 
merce. It is now clearly seen that treating ripe olives to extract 
the bitterness and to secure firmness, good flavor and keeping 
quality is one of the most difficult propositions in our horticul- 
tural manufacturing, and we can but admire the wisdom of the 
Spaniard in teaching Anglo-Saxons to enjoy green olives. To 
succeed with the ripe olive requires the utmost patience, experi- 
ence, and intelligence, and one who undertakes it must not get 
weary of the most exhaustive study of difficulties that may arise 
and how to meet them. When the most careful picklers with 
the best appliances sometimes lose hundreds of dollars worth 
in spite of all they know about it, the difficulty of the matter 
may be appreciated. 
The following is an outline of the pickling of ripe olives as 
drawn from the University publications :— 
The Lye Process—The vats or other receptacles used for pickling 
should be perfectly clean, odorless, and tasteless. Earthenware is the 
Dest material, but it is cheaper to use wooden receptaclés thoroughly 
treated with boiling water and soda until they are sterilized and all taste 
of the wood removed. Metal receptacles must not be used. The vats 
should have a plug below to draw off the liquids and should be covered 
to exclude air. They should be shallow, so that the layer of olives should 
not be much over a foot in thickness. 
1. Place the olives in a solution, composed of two ounces of potash 
lye to each gallon of very pure water, for four hours. Repeat this once, 
or twice if necessary, to sufficiently remove the bitterness. If the olives 
are soft at first, or if they are of a kind that softens rapidly in the lye, 
use brine from the beginning, adding two ounces of lye and four ounces 
of salt to each gallon of water. As the lye acts much more slowly when 
used in combination with salt, it may be allowed to stay on the olives 
for a longer time without injury, eight to twelve hours or even more. 
2. Rinse the olives thoroughly and replace the lye solution with fresh 
water. Change the water twice a day, until the lye has been removed 
from the olive, as judged by the taste. Use weak brine if the olives are 
too soft, changing once in two days. 
